Motorola Moto G5S Plus Review

The Moto G5S Plus is a mid-range level smartphone from Motorola. Following the steps of its predecessors which are the Moto G5 and Moto G5 Plus with upgraded specifications.

The Moto G5S Plus is equipped with a 5.5-inch Full HD display, Snapdragon 625 processor, an expandable 32GB of storage, 4GB of RAM, a dual 13MP back cameras, 3,000mAh battery, and a water repellent nano-coating.

For its price, the Moto G5S Plus is a real premium looking smartphone. It is packed with a metal uni-body design plus a water repellent nano-coating. On its front is where the fingerprint scanner is placed, and it has no physical navigation button.

On its back, the first thing you will notice is the dual 13 MegaPixel camera setup along with the dual-tone LED flash and depth sensor on its top.

The whole phone phone is so clean and classy. But because it is build from metal, you can feel that it is somehow heavier than phones which are made of plastic or aluminum.

SOFTWARE AND PERFORMANCE

The Moto G5s Plus has manage to get an Antutu score of 63778 and an average of 463 on the Sling Shot Extreme 1.0 under the 3DMark gamers benchmaking app. Its Qualcomm Snapdragon 625, its Adreno 506 GPU, and its 4GB of RAM are responsible for the accumulated benchmark result. This means that the device can manage to handle average games to high graphic games.

Its default launcher and icons are very similar to the Google launcher therefore giving you a nearly stock Android interface. Browsing and scrolling is so smooth but when we tried to apply the live wallpapers from the Google Pixel 2, the launcher itself starts to lag.

The fingerprint sensor on its front is not clickable but it can also serve as the navigation tool if you don’t want to use the software based navigation panel. You can allow this to happen on the Settings then it will show you the different motions on how to navigate by only using the fingerprint sensor.

CAMERA

The Moto G5S Plus has a dual 13 MegaPixel cameras on its back. The one has a RGB sensor and the other one has a monochrome sensor. As written on papers, its rear cameras are capable of creating bokeh-effect by using its Depth-Of-Field mode, but as we tried the said feature as we unbox the device, we noticed that the blur effect is not that good compare to other phones which also has that feature. We also need to wait for at least 3-5seconds before we can take another phone while using the DOF mode. And as we use the device, Motorola has released an update to improve its camera performance and yes, it did. Since the last camera update, its dynamic range is so awesome. It can easily light up objects even if in a harsh back-light condition without over-exposing and removing the blackness of dark colored objects. We also love using the G5S Plus for video recording because it supports 4K video resolution and the stabilization is so smooth even walking.

While on its front, it has an 8 MegaPixel selfie shooter. The photo quality ranges from average to good, it can take sharp and well detailed photos under good lighting environments. And because it is a f/2.2 aperture with wider angle, it suffer a little bit on dark condition but giving more space for your friend during groupfie.

Here are the sample photos

Auto Mode (daylight)

Auto Mode (indoor)

Auto Mode (low light)

Auto vs DOF Mode (low light)

Auto vs DOF Mode (good lighting)

Selfie (good lighting VS inside a bus VS indoor)

Auto vs HDR mode (night)

BATTERY LIFE

Its battery life is pretty impressive. We have tried putting the device on standby mode and based on the graph and stats above, it can last up to 10 days without charging. But in real life situation where we are using the phone as our daily driver, its 3,000mAh battery can last a whole day of moderate to heavy usage, but if you are just an average user, its battery life can last up to 2 days without charging. And speaking of charging, the Moto G5s Plus has this feature of TurboPower technology which helps to charge up the device faster than normal phones.

VERDICT

Overall, the Motorola G5s Plus is a premium looking phone for its price, it is a splash resistant phone, has a good build quality, Full HD display, Snapdragon 625 processor and a good dual-camera setup on its back. Initially, its back cameras can provide above average photos but the DOF mode still needs improvement. Its video recording capability is also commendable because of its 4K resolution support plus the outstanding stabilization that it has. On its price range and build quality, the Moto G5s Plus is matching with the Huawei Nova 2i for both having metal uni-body build. But never-the-less, the Moto G5s itself has the right hardwares and could be improved through software updates in the future.